Prince Rogers Nelson (June 7, 1958 – April 21, 2016) was an American singer, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, record producer, and actor. The recipient of numerous awards and nominations, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest musicians of his generation. He was known for his flamboyant, androgynous persona; his wide vocal range, which included a far-reaching falsetto and high-pitched screams; and his skill as a multi-instrumentalist, often preferring to play all or most of the instruments on his recordings. His music incorporated a wide variety of styles, including funk, R&B, rock, new wave, soul, synth-pop, pop, jazz, blues, and hip hop. Prince produced his albums himself, pioneering the Minneapolis sound.
Born and raised in Minneapolis, Prince signed a record deal with Warner Bros. Records at the age of 19, soon releasing the albums For You (1978) and Prince (1979). He went on to achieve critical success with the influential albums Dirty Mind (1980), Controversy (1981), and 1999 (1982). His sixth album, Purple Rain (1984), was recorded with his new backing band the Revolution and was also the soundtrack to the film of the same name in which he starred. Purple Rain garnered continued success for Prince and was a major commercial achievement, spending six consecutive months atop the US Billboard 200 chart. The soundtrack also won Prince the Academy Award for Best Original Song Score whilst the movie grossed $70.3 million worldwide, against its $7.2 million budget and publications. Critics have regarded Purple Rain as one of the greatest musical films. After disbanding the Revolution, Prince released the album Sign o' the Times (1987), widely hailed by critics as the greatest work of his career.
In the midst of a contractual dispute with Warner Bros. in 1993, he changed his stage name to the unpronounceable symbol (known to fans as the "Love Symbol") and was often referred to as The Artist Formerly Known as Prince (or TAFKAP) or simply The Artist. After moving to Arista Records in 1998, Prince reverted to his original name in 2000. Over the next decade, six of his albums entered the U.S. top 10 charts. In April 2016, at the age of 57, Prince died after accidentally overdosing on fentanyl at his Paisley Park home and recording studio in Chanhassen, Minnesota. He was a prolific musician who released 39 albums during his life, with a vast array of unreleased material left in a custom-built bank vault underneath his home after his death, including fully completed albums and over 50 finished music videos. Numerous posthumous collections of his previously unheard work have been issued by his estate.
Prince sold at least 150 million records worldwide during his lifetime, ranking him among the best-selling music artists of all time. His awards include the Grammy President's Merit Award, the American Music Awards for Achievement and of Merit, the Billboard Icon Award, an Academy Award, and a Golden Globe Award. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004, the U.K. Music Hall of Fame in 2006, and the Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame in 2016, and was inducted twice into the Black Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame in 2022. Estimates of the complete number of songs written by Prince range anywhere from 500 to well over 1,000. Some of these songs were made popular after being covered by other musicians, including "Nothing Compares 2 U" by Sinéad O'Connor and "Manic Monday" by the Bangles.
He appeared on Saturday Night Live as a musical guest on February 21, 1981 where he performed "Party Up" and on February 4, 2006 where he performed "Fury" and "Beautiful, Loved and Blessed" (with Támar), becoming the first musical guest with the longest gap between appearances (24 years, 11 months and 15 days; Prince's first appearance was on the season six episode hosted by actress Charlene Tilton back on February 21, 1981). He also appeared in September 1989 on the SNL 15th Anniversary special, however technically the special isn't part of the regular SNL series. Prince's record would later be broken by both Elton John and Leon Russell in Season 36 (Elton John's has a 29-year gap between appearances [from 1982 as the musical guest for the season seven episode hosted by Johnny Cash to his dual role as host and musical guest in 2011; Leon Russell has a 35-year gap between his appearance on the 1976 episode hosted by Dyan Cannon and his role as co-musical guest for Elton John also in 2011).
He was also impersonated by Billy Crystal on the February 2, 1985 episode during the "Backstage" sketch and on the March 30, 1985 episode during the "I Am Also The World" sketch, by Chris Kattan on the January 9, 1999 episode during the "Extreme Hunting" sketch and by Fred Armisen eleven times from the February 14, 2004 episode to the February 18, 2012 episode, most of them were during the "Prince Show" sketch.
The week of his death, a repeat episode of Saturday Night Live was pulled, and a retrospective dedicated to him aired instead, SNL Goodnight Sweet Prince.
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